(In fairness….and full disclosure…I was a Realtor in San Diego from 1999-2005 and happily left San Diego to live in Asia last August. I was involved in around 100 real estate transactions mostly of condos and entry-level houses. I’m a bubble believer and even used Rich’s data on my marketing materials. Towards the end of my real estate career I worked mainly with sellers who thought it was a good time to “cash out” or buyers who planned on owning the same house for a long time and locked a long-term interest rate. I could sleep at night with a clear conscience the way I dealt with my clients and never promised a constant appreciation in home value).
Jim,
Can you please expand on your saying that “The only difference between a used car salesman and a real estate agent is the number of payments”. What are the specific similarities?
I’ve read your previous posts and obviously you’re a smart guy. But this is just a dumb statement by you. Especially for someone with a real estate license. (Do you really need the support of “Herd Menatlity” or “Misery Loves Company” people to back up your statement?) Have you ever done a real estate deal as an agent for a client? I’ll bet it took a lot more work than the work of a car salesman….
As far as Mr. Casagrand’s report……Great, we agree he put out a report that was well thought out and had some good data. He should stick to writing articles rather than trying to list and sell real estate because he obviously isn’t very good at that even with all his impressive credentials…..With all this data and powerful knowledge he still could do plenty of deals with a healthy conscience.
A few other tid-bits:
SDRealtor: I appreciate your posts….although I’m getting a little dizzy with the Carlsbad zip code ones…….But I think you did an excellent job on showing the Realtor bashers the things that a good Realtor does to get homes sold…and the questions potential sellers should be asking Realtors before they hire one…I also loved the research on “Top-Producer” Mr. Casagrand.
Powayseller: I love your posts…Sometimes a little too much Realtor bashing….Maybe in the interest of full disclosure we should change your name to Poway(SchoolDistrict) Seller..haha just kidding. I’m concerned about the US dollar (as it’s slid 10% here in The Philippines in just the last few months)…and I don’t think A Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac collapse is out of the question either…We’ll watch and see…
A few other things:
Not all Realtors are good at what they do…
Not all real estate agents are Realtors…
Being a real estate agent is a much more difficult profession than most people think.
Even though I earned gross commissions in 2005 of over $175,000 I was happy to leave the business…
